The walled, almost completely residential community of Rossmoor is seeking the power to contract for its own police services. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Just two hours before I got the CEO of Rossmoor's quasi-municipal government on the phone Monday afternoon, the Sheriff's Department descended on the little walled burg in the northwest corner of the county.

Deputies were everywhere. They blocked off all the exits; a helicopter whirred overhead. Anxious residents called the Rossmoor Community Services District office. What was going on? The 9,000 residents were on edge, especially after last week's stabbing of a jogger.

But RCSD General Manger Henry Taboada had nothing to tell callers. He looked on the sheriff's website under the Rossmoor blotter. An item read "robbery alarm – silent, 11500 blk Weatherby Rd.," a residential area. He emailed a sheriff's official in Santa Ana to get more details for callers who wanted to know if it was safe to go outside and when they would be able to enter and exit the community. Two hours later, he still had no response.

That, in a nutshell, is why RCSD is trying to get the power to contract for Sheriff's Department services directly, and why RCSD is bucking county Supervisor John Moorlach, who doesn't want Rossmoor to have that power.

As an unincorporated area, Rossmoor gets what you might call a county-level of policing from the Sheriff's Department. But if the Local Agency Formation Commission were to give Rossmoor so-called latent powers, RCSD might be able to contract with the Sheriff's Department for an urban level of service.

"We don't get anything close to community policing," Taboada says. "The cities that contract get the same deputies; our deputies rotate in and out. There's no Neighborhood Watch. There's no street-sweeping tickets (for illegally parked cars)."

The arrest of a suspect in last week's stabbing was great police work, he says. But, as events rapidly unfolded, there was virtually no coordination between the Sheriff's Department and RCSD. "If we are a contract organization, the lieutenant becomes a de facto police chief," and is constantly reporting to the elected RCSD board of directors, Taboada says.

But to get the latent powers, Rossmoor must prove to LAFCO it could pay for the higher level of service. That requires two figures: how much, if anything, Rossmoor contributes in county taxes, and how much the Sheriff's Department would charge.

The first figure is of great controversy and is one of the reasons Moorlach – a member of the LAFCO board – doesn't want Rossmoor to acquire the power to contract police. (RCSD has limited powers over parks, street lights, street sweeping and landscaping.) A LAFCO study last year said Rossmoor is a $124,000-a-year drain on the county. RCSD countered with a study that showed Rossmoor generates $317,000 more in taxes than it costs the county to service it.

A new, more complete fiscal analysis is coming, Taboada says, as is an estimate of what the Sheriff's Department will charge for an increased level of service. Taboada said he's meeting with a sheriff's official this week.

Last summer, I met with Moorlach on this for a study I'm wrapping up myself. He's tested various ways to get Rossmoor – by far the largest remaining unincorporated island – into a city of some kind. None has worked.

Los Alamitos would like to annex it, but Rossmoorians don't want to go there. They'd probably go to Seal Beach, but Seal Beach doesn't need them. Seal Beach already took the most profitable part of Rossmoor when it annexed the main shopping center in 1962. Rossmoor tried and failed in its own incorporation attempt in 2008. Last year, LAFCO floated combining Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and Rossmoor into what some called a "super city." While a LAFCO study said it made fiscal sense, it was a political nonstarter.

Moorlach said he doesn't favor "city lite" – a community that increasingly acts like a city but ultimately comes under county responsibility. "They may get a majority vote at LAFCO, but they won't get my vote (for police-contracting powers). I went to that community and stood right in front of them and said, 'You're 50 years old. For crying out loud, move out!' They didn't like that."

No, I don't expect they would. Rossmoor will probably like my upcoming proposal even less.

Next: super cityhood redux.

Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

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